Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov immediately denounced Biden's remarks, saying Moscow would take precautions to safeguard its interests in the face of the increasing "unpredictability and aggressiveness of the United States".

"The threats directed against Moscow and our state's leadership are unprecedented because they are voiced at the level of the US vice president," RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying.

"To the backdrop of this aggressive, unpredictable line, we must take measures to protect (our) interests, to hedge risks."

And Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov vowed Moscow would respond to any US cyber attacks, saying such threats were "borderline insolence", the news agency said.

Reuters

This year the US formally accused Russian cyberhackers of interfering with the US election

Earlier this week Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov shrugged off the US allegations, saying the hacking claims were "flattering" but baseless, with not a "single fact" to prove it.

The Kremlin was propelled to the heart of American politics in July after Hillary Clinton's campaign blamed Russia for an embarrassing leak of emails from the Democratic National Committee.

Russia has been accused of favouring Donald Trump - who has praised Putin and called for better ties with Moscow - over the more hawkish Clinton.

Russia's relations with the United States have plunged to their post-Cold War nadir over the conflict in Ukraine and stalled efforts to end the five-year Syrian war.

Putin himself told reporters: "You can expect anything from our American friends. But what did he say that was new?

"Don't we know that official bodies of the United States are spying and eavesdropping on everyone?

"The only new thing is that for the first time the United States has recognised at the highest level ... that they themselves do it (cyber attacks)."

Putin said that by "playing the Russian card" in the current election campaign, the outgoing U.S. administration sought to distract voter attention from its failures, which include huge state debt, weak diplomacy in the Middle East and strained relations with its allies in that region.

"I would like to reassure everyone, including our U.S. partners and friends - we do not intend to influence the U.S. election campaign," he said. "If someone wants confrontation, this is not our choice.

"On the contrary, we would like to find common ground and cooperate in solving the global problems that confront both Russia and the United States."

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